The GCSAA selected members Mark Esoda, CGCS, the late George Hamilton, Ph.D., and Monroe Miller as recipients of the 2009 Colonel John Morley Distinguished Service Awards.
They will be acknowledged at the opening session of the 2009 GCSAA Education Conference in New Orleans, Feb. 5. The conference (Feb. 2-7) will be held in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show (Feb. 5-7) at the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.
"Mark, George and Monroe are most deserving of the Col. John Morley Award,” GCSAA President David S. Downing II, CGCS, says. “They have made outstanding and significant contributions to the advancement of the golf course superintendent profession as well as to the game of golf. Their service to our profession has been invaluable.”
Esoda, CGCS, has been at Atlanta Country Club for the past 20 years. He travels the country giving seminars and speaking at various conferences about the importance of water conservation. In 2000, Esoda formulated a best management practices template for superintendents in Georgia that was endorsed by the state's environmental protection department and continues to serve as a guideline for water use and conservation across the country. A 22-year GCSAA member, Esoda holds a bachelor's degree in agriculture from the University of Georgia. He has served on various GCSAA committees and is a regular speaker at the annual GCSAA Education Conference and Golf Industry Show. Esoda hosted the PGA Tour's BellSouth Classic at Atlanta Country Club from 1990-96.
Esoda has been highly involved with GCSAA's Georgia chapter for 27 years, serving as president in 1995 and 1996. He earned a GCSAA Excellence in Government Relations Award in 2004 for his contribution to Georgia golf course water rights and helped the Georgia GCSA earn the award in 2007 for its formation of the Georgia Allied Golf Council, which supplements ongoing lobbying efforts representing the golf industry at various levels of state government. Esoda chairs the Georgia Allied Golf Council's water task force committee and is also active in the Georgia Turfgrass Association, Georgia Turfgrass Foundation Trust, Georgia Golf Environmental Foundation, Georgia State Golf Association and the Georgia State Golf Foundation. He also volunteers his time and services for the University of Georgia College of Agriculture and Environmental Science and is highly involved with the Boy Scouts of America.
Hamilton, who died in 2004 at 43 after a yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer, was a turfgrass professor at Penn State. After completing his bachelor's degree in turfgrass science at Penn State, he helped establish the nation's first major research project on runoff and infiltration in turfgrass systems. After obtaining his master's degree, Hamilton became director of Penn State's two-year certificate program in golf turf management. He trained more than 500 students in golf turf management and helped place them in professional positions. In 2001, Hamilton completed his doctorate on factors involved in ice-damage to putting greens. He developed the first pelletized mulch made from recycled paper, called PennMulch, and developed the first calibrator for rotary spreaders, call PennPro.
Hamilton served on the GCSAA Education Committee and on the C-5 Division Education Committee of the American Society of Agronomy. He was named Innovator of the Year by the Northeast Weed Science Society in 1994 and 1997. Hamilton was a frequent speaker at turfgrass conferences all over North America and wrote numerous articles on various aspects of turfgrass management. He was actively involved with his regional GCSAA chapters and the Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council. Hamilton established a fellowship at Penn State in honor of his father that supports graduate students working in the area of turfgrass science at Penn State. He helped maintain athletic fields for local schools, participated in Coaches vs. Cancer, and gave speeches on living with cancer.
Miller, a GCSAA Class A superintendent at Blackhawk Country Club in Madison, Wis., for the last 36 years, is retiring in December. More than 100 of his former employees and interns are still involved in the turf industry. A 36-year GCSAA member, Miller is a co-founder and board member of the Wisconsin Turfgrass Association. He spearheaded a fund-raising campaign to raise $250,000 required to qualify for $100,000 in matching funds for the formation of the O.J. Noer (turfgrass) Research Facility at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. Miller's involvement with the Wisconsin Turfgrass Association accelerated the hiring process of two University of Wisconsin faculty members key to the school's turf program.
Miller received the 1989 University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Honorary Recognition Award, the USGA Green Section Award in 2004, and he became the first golf course superintendent to be inducted into the Wisconsin State Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2005. An award-winning writer as well, Miller served as volunteer editor of the Wisconsin GCSA's bi-monthly newsletter, Grass Roots, for 24 years and is also a contributing writer for the Wisconsin State Golf Association's publication, Wisconsin Golfer, educating the golfing community of the importance of proper turfgrass management practices and environmental protection. He serves on the USGA Green Section and Green Section Award committees and is a past president of the Wisconsin GCSA.
The GCSAA Board of Directors selects the winners from nominations submitted by affiliated chapters and/or association members. First presented in 1932, the award is given to individuals who have made an outstanding, substantive and enduring contribution to the advancement of the golf course superintendent profession. This year the name of the award was changed from the Distinguished Service Award to the Col. John Morley Award. Morley, GCSAA's founder and first president, was the first to earn the award in 1932, and won it again in 1940.